Program

Program

The Path to Winning in the Age of Rapid Change

Dirk Beveridge, Founder, UnleashWD
While acknowledging and honoring the past, the path to winning requires looking, learning, and strategically innovating forward. Market dynamics are changing how business is done and leadership’s mindset, ambition, and propensity to innovative will determine the organization’s future relevancy. In this optimistic and energizing presentation Dirk will detail:

The pull of legacy all businesses face while honoring the past

The fog of uncertainty created by the age of rapid change

The significant inflection points distribution leaders must address

The decision point distributors are at that will define their future

The innovative mindset that is imperative in this age of rapid change

The spectrum of distribution businesses and future relevancy of each

The Future of the Industry Discussion

Mike Marks, Indian River Consulting Group
Join door security + safety leaders for a frank discussion on the forces that are reshaping our industry.Customer sourcing practices are changing, digital is touching everything, there is a convergence of our industry with security and access control, we are going through a generational change, regulation changes will not slow down, channel practices are changing, and Internet -driven price transparency is increasing pressure on margins.This is really nothing new; there is an acceleration of the impact of these forces.This is a discussion of both industry insiders and outsiders around how to decide which ones to watch and where taking a lead may create competitive advantage. There are no easy answers for anyone anymore.The panel will provide useful insight for participants as they determine their path forward.

Profit from the Core

Mike Marks, Indian River Consulting GroupMuch has been said about the pressure on traditional DHI distributor companies to evolve beyond simply a material supply business. That is an important enough subject to warrant its own session, but the effective classic DHI distributor business will continue to survive well into the future. This session focuses on the core business functions and examines how to create shareholder value in your current model. There are as many specific choices as there are DHI distributor companies! This session will help you to diagnosis your own strengths and weaknesses and build your custom profit improvement plan.

Profit beyond the Core

Mike Marks, Indian River Consulting Group This session picks up on the 2013 Executive Forum addressing the intersection of the access control business prospects with our traditional door, frame, and hardware businesses. A lot has happened over the recent years with the evolution of DHI distributors businesses, with some real success stories and some that clearly haven’t worked. This session starts with the view that you are a traditional DHI distributor company and have now decided to go wider in the value chain and are trying to determine where and how to start. The model that Mike will share is based on incremental investment. It starts with looking at all the alternatives from two perspectives; cost to grow, and potential to grow. Find the best place to start and get it up and working to scale before adding another component. This allows each initiative to fund the next one. This won’t be a training session on how to get into the access control or monitoring business, rather it focuses on how to choose and make the best investment.

Ask the Expert Panel

Mike Marks, Jason Bader, Kathryne A Newton, Ph.D.
Knowledge without execution creates little impact in business.This panel includes three industry outsiders who actually understand our industry.Any question is fair game from business valuation, to managing inventory or even millennials.Join this open dialog where you will get specific answers to specific questions.The questions can be based on the material from the prior day or anything else.These sessions always get high reviews, so come up with the question that you really want to know and make them work.

Preparing for 2020: The Manager's Guide to Dealing with the New Workplace

Kathryne A. Newton, Ph.D., Purdue University and University of Innovative DistributionManaging good talent has never been easy, but the rapid pace of change is going to make this even more challenging. Is your organization ready for it? Consider a few changes that employers of the future will have to deal with:

Five highly diverse generations working in organizations side-by-side with vastly different values, beliefs, and technology skill sets.

Growing international business with needs for cross cultural communication and business etiquette.

A new e-economy bringing with it a vastly different way of doing business, including teamwork in a virtual environment.

Integrating innovation into the culture will be key to developing competitive advantage.

Many of these trends can already be seen, and others are newly emerging, but all will have a dramatic impact on the manager of the future. Learn what these new trends will mean for your company, and what you can do now to prepare for them.

Gross Sales are for Vanity, Profit is for Sanity

Jason Bader, The Distribution Team and University of Innovative Distribution
As we walk around conventions and industry gatherings, we hear all sorts of commentary on top- line revenues. Big sales and big numbers rule the cocktail hour, but where does the rubber really meet the road? We pay our bills and line our pockets with profit, not sales.

If you are person responsible for setting pricing direction, this event is for you. In this session, we will talk about driving a culture of profit in your organization. It starts with educating the team about how money works and continues with proven margin enhancement strategies. From raising prices to reducing expenses, this session will give you the tools you need to unlock significant improvements in gross margin and ultimately net profit. Now let’s go hunt some cash.

Learning objectives:

Teach employees how to become cash hunters

Reduce expense without jeopardizing customer service

Use data to discover gross margin opportunities

Expand penetration in high net profit accounts

Personnel Productivity Improvement

Kathryne A. Newton, Ph.D., Purdue University and University of Innovative Distribution
Distribution is a people intensive business and one of the most important challenges for managers in today's tough business environment is enhancing employee productivity. You will learn how to take a "systems" viewpoint of the organization; learning tools to identify productivity gaps in your firm and working toward a balance for employee activities such as recruiting and hiring great people, onboarding and training, compensation and incentives, performance evaluation and employee development. You’ll even get a checklist for “is this employee salvageable?”

Analyzing Customer Profitability

Jason Bader, The Distribution Team and University of Innovative DistributionAre all customers created equal? Isn’t that what we teach our customer service people? If we asked our people to list the top 10 customers, how would they rank them? If we asked them to list the top 10 most profitable customers, would we receive the same list?

In many organizations, the people that work with us and for us equate our largest customers with our most profitable. During this session, participants will learn how to rank their customers based on contribution to net profit. By understanding which customers contribute to our overall profitability, we can allocate our value added resources to those folks who help us grow. Conversely, we can begin to reduce services to those customers who make us jump through hoops, drive down prices and continually pay slow. Distributors have a finite amount of money to invest in service. Let’s make sure that we are investing in the right customers.

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to calculate the net profit of a customer

Determine areas that detract from net profit

Communicate findings in a confidential manner

Learn which customers to sell deeper into

Using Mechanic’s Lien Rights to Get Paid Faster

Eric Travers, Kegler Brown Hill + Ritter With apologies to Michael Bolton, mechanic’s liens are a wonderful thing. This powerful and informative seminar is designed to give attendees what they need to know about the importance of mechanic’s lien rights and understanding and securing such rights. This discussion will invoke the colorful history of mechanic’s lien rights in America; common traps for the unwary; and how diligently preserving and enforcing your lien rights can secure your right to payment. Attendees will learn why they want to institute a process to keep track of and preserve their lien rights, and gain practical pointers on how to do so to better use one of the most powerful tools construction subcontractors and suppliers have to separate yourself from other creditors, move to the head of the line for payment, and get paid faster. And more.

Spotting and Negotiating Killer Contract Clauses

Eric Travers, Kegler Brown Hill + RitterWhile every construction project is different, many construction contracts have certain common risk-shifting clauses that, if accepted by the subcontractor or supplier, can be the difference between moving on to work another project and absorbing potentially devastating losses and risk. This entertaining and informative seminar is designed to give you the information and practical tools you need to better understand, evaluate, and negotiate the “killer” contract clauses to more fairly protect your interests and bottom line.

“The 2013 Executive Summit featured a great program, much of which was immediately applicable to my business. Gaining information on security and access control was important as we, and much of the industry, move into this arena. With the knowledge gained at the Executive Summit, we’ve made progress in this direction. I’m looking forward to DHI’s 2018 Management Summit where I expect to learn more about the evolution into access control as well as picking up tips in dealing with increasingly complicated contract language and legalities.”

- William S. Trimble, III, AHC

President, William. S. Trimble Co., Inc.

“Great educational opportunity, especially for 2nd tier management. This Summit gave [attendees] the tools necessary to make positive changes within our company and tremendously increased their morale.”